Vendor Selection, Projects and Implementations

Transformed Majesco Aims to Leap Over Competition

Robert Regis Hyle | Tuesday, August 04, 2015

Robert Regis Hyle

Changes have transformed Majesco, one of the leading core solution providers for the insurance industry. Starting last fall when the technology company dropped Mastek from its name and became simply Majesco, its mergers and acquisitions, and hirings have grabbed a great deal of attention from customers and competitors. In addition, the company is now public and joined the New York Stock Exchange in July.

Earlier this summer, Majesco completed its merger with CoverAll, a process that began last December, shortly after the acquisition of another company, Agile Technologies. Such respected industry consultants as Chad Hersh and Denise Garth signed up with the company in leadership positions.

The merger with CoverAll was important, according to Majesco`s CEO and co-founder Ketan Mehta, because CoverAll has a strong commercial lines platform, as well as business intelligence and data warehouse solutions, to complement the solutions offered by Majesco.

Mehta adds the skill level of the 150 CoverAll employees added to the new brand brings an injection of talent to Majesco. With 30-plus CoverAll customers, the total number of Majesco customers now exceeds 140.

Edward Ossie, COO of Majesco, points to the positive reception of current customers and prospective customers these last six months as being important to the company.

“When we announced (the merger) in December, there were some questions and due to the regulatory process we had six months to talk with people,” says Ossie. “Many customers cited the combination of more insurance talent and the ability to offer more scale and capacity as being important to them as they make a transformation selection.”

Ossie adds Majesco has a diverse team of 1,850 employees working around the world, so the global market is important for the future. Still, 88 percent of Majesco`s business is located in the U.S.

“We are excited about the transparency with CoverAll and the listing on the New York Stock Exchange gives us transparency with our customers,” he says.

Mehta explains one reason for going public is because in the U.S. insurance market insurers look for vendors with size and scale.

“[Going public] will make sure there is governance and transparency with regulators and that we are here for the long haul,” says Mehta. “As we look at further acquisitions, we feel a listing will help us to use stock as a currency for those acquisitions. Also, stock-option plans for the staff will be more attractive.”

Ossie explains over the past few years there has been an increasing number of smaller companies interested in consolidating with a larger partner. He believes that was a signal Majesco needed to step out and consolidate where it made sense with key acquisitions like Agile and CoverAll.

“It leaves very few competitors and I think that scale has been important to our current customers and really important to future customers as they try to figure out who their partner will be for the next 15 years or so,” says Ossie.

Mehta is excited about the overall opportunities in the insurance sector and points out the acquisition of Agile Technologies was a response to customer expectations and demands.

“One thing our customers have been asking for is help in complex transformation through advisory groups,” he says. “Agile is focused on insurance with a good reputation and strong capabilities in IT strategy and data strategy.”

Garth sees a great deal of opportunity ahead for Majesco and the insurance industry as change and disruptors converge.

“For many insurers that will mean going back to what we are all about: managing risk,” she says. “There are different business models, but we see managing risk as a foundation of the core systems. Adding on to that will be capabilities such as telematics, advanced analytics, predictive modeling, the Internet of Things. Those will be a factor in how insurers look at micro segmentation and look at risks on an individual basis. We see our capabilities enabling that.”

Majesco has been aggressive over the last year, but don`t look for any more headline-grabbing deals in the short term, according to Mehta.

“We will focus on execution and integration for a while, which is critical,” he says. “But there are new opportunities so we will continue to look for the right opportunity and not hesitate to move on it.”

Robert Regis Hyle is editor-in-chief of the Insurance Technology Association